08-26-2004, 07:21 AM

Hi Guys,

This is my first post so take it easy on me.

I just took delivery of my new PB17in 1.5 GHz with 2 GB RAM, 128 MB Video, and 5400 RPM HDD. This spec should be the fastest portable mac going ... yes ....... ?

This is my first mac since owning a Mac Plus many many years ago, so I can only compare performance to my current laptop. Its specs are 1.5 GHz Centrino, 64 MB ATI Radeon 9600 Pro, 60 GB 4200 RPM Drive.

Now onto my question, the OSX display feels slower than WinXP, while I understand the MAC has all the eye-candy turned on so this will be adding to the slow down, but is this normal, can I turn off some of the visual effects to make the UI feel quicker?

So far I have tried in sysem prefs, turning on and off the smooth scrolling, changing display from millions to thousands etc etc. Scrolling in Safari, IE or Mozilla is nowhere near as smooth as the Cetrino Laptop, which is running a 1680x1050x32bit display, so it is pushing more pixels around than the mac. Other operations like moving windows around the display also feels "laggy" especially when running in millions of colours.

This is not a troll, I would just like some answers either way.

Other than this issue, living with a mac for 4 days has been very nice, I really like just dropping apps on to the applications folder and using move to trash to uninstall apps. Windows connectivity is also very nice, to my surprise my printer (Samsung SCX4216), DV-Cam and Digital Camera all connect and worked first go (Samsung did need drivers tho).

Looking forward to constructive feedback.

08-26-2004, 11:27 AM

What version of the OS are you running?

Also is this slowness only with the web browsers?

What are running when you experience this?

08-26-2004, 02:20 PM

I have a 15" powerbook 1 ghz, 512 mb ram. I had the same experience as you. My new mac felt slower than my windows machine. I went into the energy saver control panel and changed the "When on power supply" CPU setting to max performance. This made a huge difference in the speed of my mac. Now when plugged in it runs awesome. So I would try that. Also, before I did this I had the energy saver setting set to "automatic" This setting says it will set the cpu to max performance when plugged in but it I guess it really didn't. Hope it helps!

08-26-2004, 09:25 PM

Originally Posted by rman

What version of the OS are you running?

Also is this slowness only with the web browsers?

What are running when you experience this?

10.3.5, I just ran all the updates. The whole UI feels "slow", I guess it's more noticable in browers as I'm using a scroll wheel mouse and I'm used to very smooth scrolling in IE60. A good example is I set display prefs to millions, open up a largish window, say 2/3 of display when moving the window it doens't feel as responsive as it should be ?

BlinkyBill

08-26-2004, 09:28 PM

Originally Posted by zakm52

I have a 15" powerbook 1 ghz, 512 mb ram. I had the same experience as you. My new mac felt slower than my windows machine. I went into the energy saver control panel and changed the "When on power supply" CPU setting to max performance. This made a huge difference in the speed of my mac. Now when plugged in it runs awesome. So I would try that. Also, before I did this I had the energy saver setting set to "automatic" This setting says it will set the cpu to max performance when plugged in but it I guess it really didn't. Hope it helps!

Thanks for the tip, will check this out and report back. On the surface the PB with the ATI 128MB 9700 should have the goods over the ATI 64MB 9600 in the centrino laptop.

08-26-2004, 09:30 PM

After you updated your system, did you repair permissions?

08-26-2004, 10:09 PM

Originally Posted by rman

After you updated your system, did you repair permissions?

I didn't do this, still very new to OSX, I just googled repair permissions, and will do this later on tonight (UTC+1000 here) and report back any findings.

Thanks for the tips so far.

On a side note, I downloaded the Quake III demo linked from the Apple site 1.3.2 (i think), and it doesn't even run, crashes asking to report the bug to apple, anyone know if this needs to be patched for 10.3.5 ?

08-27-2004, 01:42 AM

The common UI function will feel slower on OS X than on Windows. I think it's the first thing the switcher notices, and probably the biggest barrier for to-be-switchers.

Windows desktop is rendered in 2D only. 2D framebuffer is blazingly fast these days, so any redraw will be instantaneous.

On OS X, the desktop is rendered in 3D. 3D hardware has come a long way in recent years, but it doesn't really match the speed of 2D framebuffer.

There are ways to disable some of 3D hardware rendering through hacking system files. I'm not sure whether it'll result in faster display with 3D disabled though. Apple claims Panther with Quartz Extreme is 30% faster than without. (Quartz Extreme is the rendering engine behind the desktop)

As you use Apple computer more often, you'll kinda get used to its speed. You might be frustrated at first, because you were used to quicker rendering on Windows. Just give it some times.

08-27-2004, 01:43 AM

BTW, don't waste time repairing permissions especially on a new machine. You might want to do it once a year or so.

08-27-2004, 02:07 AM

Tried the suggestions. Looks like MoltenLavas comments are pretty much on the mark. The UI is *not* that slow, but just not as snappy as XP. I did go to the prefs and turn on max performance options on while plugged in and it does seems a little better than the automatic settings.

Thanks for the suggestions so far.

08-27-2004, 10:25 AM

Originally Posted by MoltenLava

BTW, don't waste time repairing permissions especially on a new machine. You might want to do it once a year or so.

Apple recommends that you repair permissions before and after you update or install software. It does resolve a lot of problem. It is not the magis bullet. Just like upgrading using the combo update is better than using the standard update image.

08-27-2004, 10:42 AM

Some people ask why must you repair file permissions so often?

Apple has tried to make very easy to install and update software. As you know not all software vendor follow the guide lines in order to install software.

The install application asks you for yur admin pass word. It might change the file permissions on certain files and directories/folders in order to install the given software. Upon completion of this task. In most cases the permissions of these files and/or directories/folders are not return to their original settings.

Because of the new settings, this can lead to various problems. So it is recommended to repair file permissions.

This is a simple explanation, of how things work. Since I don't want to explain unix file permissions and how they work.

08-28-2004, 01:02 AM

rman, you are correct about why people should fix file permission once in a while. However, the symptom you will experience when file permission is left wrong on some system file would be obviously identifiable. i.e. You'll experience crashes. Some apps won't run. You'll notice something wrong right away. Especially in this case he just bought a new machine! The chance of any file left with wrong permission is virtually none.

I'm not saying never fix file permission. I'm saying, it's not something you should religiously do every Sunday morning.

08-28-2004, 01:02 AM

Thanks for all the advice, in appreciation I have some Gmail invites to give out. So rman, zakm52 and MoltenLava if you would like the invites or if you already have Gmail and want me to send an invite to someone else just send me a PM.

Regards

BlinkyBill

08-28-2004, 01:04 AM

Thanks, but I got my gmail account already. You are very generous to give the invites away to people you seldom know.